The Mother F#%*+<\ Hay Fever Thread

I can "drink" water through both my nostrils and spit it out. Usually make it salty and bit warm for added effect. People look at me like I'm some kind of freak when i do it.

 

Washing sinuses removes alergens and is great. Approved.

In a pinch, if you ever get so congested that you literally can't breathe through your sinuses, ask your md for a bottle of adrenergic drops. We use pseudoephedrine (or phenylephrine) for that. It will decongest you in minutes fully. You can't use it for a prolonged period of time, but for such situations, great stuff.

 

Hello friends. Im a medical doctor and have good study in inflammation and immunology, nevertheless I work with psychiatry and immune system. There are 4 phases during allergies. In the first and second, nasal spray and topical prednisone analogs are effective. Once the body its very sensitive in a mechanism called immune amplification or kindling, the hole body become messed up and even the tiny allergen can initiate a strong allergy crises. In those stages 3 and 4, you have to take of the allergy source for several months and sometimes use oral medication or imune modulators.
The kindling its also responsible for cross over allergies. So removing milk, eggs, sea food, dairy, wheat, can improve the symptoms in some people. cheers.

 

You too? I'm an ophthalmologist

 

Usually all medical doctors are fu****** nuts, vis a vis, they become audiophiles

 

Can you expand on how that keto diet helps to curb the allergy symptoms? I am thinking of changing my diet to a semi vegetarian diet where I avoid almost all processed sweet and fat foods (I no longer store sugar as I prefer honey, no joke!). That keto diet might help a bit.

 

This is a very interesting subject!! It is possible to include this explanation in the Health and longevity thread? May I call , @ultrabike. He is a Mod, but very friendly

 

Let me try to refrain from too much word vomit here (had a lot of cognac tonight), but I think I can help out with the explanation here.

Good news is you can still do a semi vegetarian diet and a keto diet simultaneously!

Essentially, the main reason why a keto diet should result in lower inflammation in your system overall vs a 'regular' diet: High quantities of simple sugars in your diet is highly inflammatory, and once you start breaking down most diets, you realize there's a hell of a lot of stuff with sugar in it. So high sugar = inflammation.

The goal of a keto diet is to get the vast majority of your calories from non carbohydrate sources (sugar being the most simple and energy rich carbohydrate of them all), which then forces your body into burning 'ketones' for fuel, which are basically just chemicals your body makes from fat for fast fuel instead of using sugar. Putting any other advantages of your body running on ketosis aside, it's safe to say that there's not much sugar left in your system to raise inflammation levels.

Once you've already reached that sort of systemic level of every day inflammation from having a super sugar rich diet, your body is better able to handle the inflammation from allergic reactions. Think of it as a threshhold almost; if it's so busy being generally stressed out, then it's less able to handle other things. Same basic reasons why you get sick easier if you're too cold, or haven't been sleeping enough.

That being said, if you're deathly allergic to nuts, I don't think a keto diet will save you from choking on them, so all things within reasonable limits.

edit: MANY things simplified here and glossed over, but it's a barebones basic of how keto can do things good.

 

Well the thing with vegan is people usually feel better because they're actually eating healthier stuff. Still lots of carbs there and it doesn't lower inflammation nearly as much as keto. Also honey and fruit is sugar and are basically no no's on keto. It helps to wane yourself off of sugar cravings gradually.
And fat is the main staple of keto, like 60% at least.

I agree with @FallingObjects for the most part though doing vegan and keto is much harder. You need a lot of supplements to get the nutrients you need that are in meat and eggs. They are the most nutrient dense food available to us humans.

That aside it is true that body has more time to do other stuff when it's not being taxed by high inflammation and you can improve that even further by combining keto with intermittent fasting. There are studies that show an increase in muscle growth hormone and an increased efficiency for absorbing protein. Among other benefits.

You should check out Dr Eric Berg on YouTube he has lots of good videos and guidance.

@David De Lucena i think i'm going to make a dedicated keto thread like you suggested earlier

 

I need to keep honey, fruit and smoothies/juices around. Otherwise I drink too much coffee.

 

I left the UK in my 20s and can attest first hand how brutal pollen allergies can be. NYC was a slight improvement on the hayfever front. Now I'm in the dry heat of SoCal, I barely get it anymore.

My wife however eats antihistamines like candy. If they're potentially bad for her health long term, I'm gonna ask her to curb it.

 

Hmm i'm no doctor but that is some serious sugar addiction, maybe you're even pre diabetic. Be careful.

 

I moved from western Canada to Houston, TX about 10 years ago. The first 12-18 months were fine, but shortly thereafter I started to experience the worst allergies of my life - waking up like I had a cold almost daily.

The only thing that has restored my quality of life is immunotherapy - I've been getting allergy shots now for about 4 years and it's changed my life. Highly recommend seeing a good immunologist for allergy testing and immunotherapy if you want a sustainable solution that doesn't require steroid based nasal sprays or oral antihistamines.

 

My doctor recommended taking Quercetin supplements, and it has worked well for me. Quercetin is a natural substance found in fruits and vegetables that has anti-inflammatory benefits. It isn't for immediate allergy relief — take it in the weeks before and during allergy season to reduce allergy symptoms. Quercetin has reduced the severity of my allergies to a manageable level so that I don't use other medication.

 

I had immunotherapy/allergy shots in my 20's (decades ago), and it made a big and permanent difference in my life. I had grown up with a constantly stuffy or runny nose. I thought it was normal and didn't even realize that people normally breathe through their noses!

I don't know if it's done the same way now, but it was a big commitment. I was tested as being allergic to everything (dust, pet dander, all types of pollen, etc). It began with very weak dosage shots twice a week. As my body became desensitized to the allergans, they slowly increased the concentration in the shots. After I reached certain levels I only had to go back once a week, and later once every two weeks. Luckily I worked across the street from the medical center and allergy clinic, and it was easy for me to go to all of those visits. It took over a year before I reached the full dosage and only needing to go back once every two weeks for a maintenance shot. By that time I had begun breathing regularly through my nose for the first time in my life!

A few years later, I changed jobs and moved, and stopped doing allergy shots. My allergies regressed slightly, but the effect of the shots had been essentially permanent — decades later my sinuses remain much more clear and not as sensitive as when I was growing up.

 

They pretty much do it the same way now. The only difference is that they can now give you EXACTLY what you allergic to in your allergy shots. From what I know, they used to use pre-mixed vials of "grasses" or "tree pollen", but now they can be more specific in testing what types of airborne allergens you are prone to. This has better results for what they can actually can give you. So the stuff that is mixed is more specific to the person and also more specific allergen. However, this does not work for everyone. However, this does not work for everyone as my buddy has seasonal allergies, but not enough of the stuff that others are allergic to and have the things to make the allergen serum if you will. If it were 20 years ago, he likely would have just started allergen therapy and told it does not work for him.

And the other thing that has changed is that you can't just get the shot(s) and go about your business. Heck, they would even give the serum to parents and let them administer it themselves at home. The new health care law specifies they have to be under watch for at least 30 minutes to ensure you are not going to go into allergic shock. I had to get a doctor's note stating is was medically necessary so that my office would allow me to take off for shots. My office is kind enough to let me have an extended lunch on those days (I only get 30 minute lunches), but if I don't have enough hours to cover 80 hours, it comes out of my PTO hours. But scheduling during lunch at least saves on 30 minutes.

Two years in and I can tell a difference. I am not a total mess. I still have to make sure I am on top of my medicine when I start feeling the symptoms or an itchy throat. Those usually co-inside with much time spent outside or high pollen days. However, my worst enemy is not pollen, but mold that comes in the fall.

 

There's even immuno pills for many things these days. One would think they are illegal drugs or something, I mean how hard would it be to self-administer these things? Why can't health stores sell birch pollen etc as is, if not as medicine? It's not like you can't already eat nuts, play with animals or lick a tree.

I did birch for three years, it did seem to help quite a lot. I think it cost around 50€ total in the public health care.

 

I know. I avoid sweets. When I was a kid I could eat sugary snacks like cooky monster eats cookies.

Honey keeps my sweet tooth in check.

 

It wasn't like that for me, in the 1980's. I would receive 4 shots (2 in each arm), each shot a different formulation (pollen, grasses, etc) and I would have to wait around for 20 minutes. Then the technician would check and record the size of the bumps on my arm where the injections were (the amount of swelling indicates how much my body reacted to each shot). At the next visit they would adjust the strength of each shot (increase the strength if there was no bump, otherwise keep it the same or decrease it). A frustrating part was that if I interrupted for vacation or other reason, they would restart me at a lower level after I got back, and it would take weeks to get back to the level of progress I was at.

 

Just my opinion, but if the choice were sugar or too much coffee, I think that coffee might be less dangerous.
I drink one decent cup in the morning and then switch off to teas at work. My naturalist doc says the problem with coffee is that it's usually contaminated with molds. I suppose that could be triggering some other allergic issues in some people. I wonder if home roasting might minimize mold exposure a little.

Thankfully I'm not allergic to anything. I've been through many tests as part of my docs normal strategy of getting an understanding of every patients problem areas. I feel for you guys with allergies but mostly came to this thread knowing there would probably be some good alt-heath info shared anyway.